DoubleSqueeze

Very nice 7D, I thought you were gonna get a heart...

2011-05-06T22:11:59.711-04:00

Very nice 7D, I thought you were gonna get a heart lead from the bidding. But your ending was much better.

I think many partnerships solve this problem a dif...

2011-03-13T15:27:59.199-04:00

I think many partnerships solve this problem a different way: Opener responds 3C to Jacoby 2NT with any minimum. In many cases just the knowledge that opener has a minimum will turn responder off the slam hunt and he can sign off in 4M with benefit of having concealed opener's distribution from the defense. And if responder is still interested in hearing about the type of minimum opener has, he can begin an inquiry with 3D over the 3C call. Meanwhile, if opener does not have a minimum, he can give coded responses to 2NT each of which are above 3C.

I do like serious 3NT, though, but principally for 2/1 auction when M suit agreement has been established.

I have been thinking about proposing the addition ...

2011-03-13T15:14:39.940-04:00

I have been thinking about proposing the addition of kickback to my existing agreements with one bridge partner. Being concerned about avoiding accidents -- but not having read enough about kickback to propose specific agreements about when it applies -- what I am proposing to partner is that if we are in an auction where 4NT would otherwise be keycard, then 4 of suit above agreed trumps becomes the keycard ask (that is, kickback) and 4NT takes the place of what becomes the kickback call (presumptively, a control bid in the suit used for the kickback call).

Applying my proposed agreements to the auction of you and your partner: 4NT would not otherwise have been keycard -- instead, I am assuming, it would have been invitational and naturalish -- and so I would think that 4H is not kickback. Rather, I would think that 4H would be a control bid with continued interest in a diamond slam. Since the precondition for applying kickback does not exist, I would think that 4D is either minorwood or just soliciting control bids for consideration of diamond slam, whichever the partnership agrees.

Does my proposed agreement with partner about when kickback applies make sense to you? As I stated, I haven't seen anything written on the topic and so am just searching for some rules to avoid misunderstandings.

I disagree fairly comprehensively with the assessm...

2010-04-09T14:56:57.228-04:00

I disagree fairly comprehensively with the assessment of West's lead against the doubled grand. It is true that West should only consider the bids in the auction, and not any emotional content that was attached. But he is allowed to consider the whole auction, not just the final bid. When partner has bid hearts, doubled 6NT, and then doubled a grand slam escape bid, the auction calls for a heart lead. It's that simple, and no ethical consideration enters into it. Obviously partner has the AKH, not because of facial expression or tone of voice or forcefulness with the bidding box, but because that is what his bidding has proclaimed. Leading anything other than a heart is idiotic.

Nice play. Combine your chances, remember the bid...

2010-04-08T12:16:10.698-04:00

Nice play. Combine your chances, remember the bidding, and watch your entries - lots for a beginner to learn on a hand like this.

...no. McKenzie and I are both of the opinion tha...

2010-03-26T15:55:49.906-04:00

...no.

McKenzie and I are both of the opinion that Flannery is pretty much the worst convention in bridge. If you have 5 hearts, open 1H. If your partner has 4 spades, you'll hear about that with a 1S response. So what's the problem? All it does is take away a diamond preempt and get you too high when you don't have a fit. You're just asking for your opponents to lead trump and take you for a ride.

Would you consider adding Flannery 2D to your shor...

2010-03-17T21:56:07.795-04:00

Would you consider adding Flannery 2D to your short list? I know, I know, 3 suddenly would become something huge, but since you were on the topic of finding major contracts ...

Len -- when he cashes ace, partner is 3 times as l...

2010-02-18T13:24:26.688-05:00

Len -- when he cashes ace, partner is 3 times as likely to have stiff small as stiff T, so maybe the 9 is the percentage play, although embarrassment is a factor in bridge.

Max -- good point, when you follow they could recover heroically with a 2nd-round finesse against your J9xx. But now they are really covered in egg if you had 9x or 9xx! Makes you a true believer in Rosenberg's "always play the 9" rule.

Mack's original question about picking up lefty's J9xx: Interesting question. I guess Joe Grue would do it (or others with massive confidence in their table feel.). The rest of us aren't good enough to trust our table feel vs. overwhelming odds. And why can't lefty have stiff trump and be hoping for a trump trick in partner's hand?

If they see the 9 from your hand and then cross to...

2010-01-19T11:15:19.645-05:00

If they see the 9 from your hand and then cross to the queen, won't they notice that you showed up with another one?

We'd be thrilled for our friends in Boca Grand...

2010-01-08T16:56:41.958-05:00

We'd be thrilled for our friends in Boca Grande to reprint anything from this site!

Meg- I couldn't agree with you more! At our ...

2010-01-07T11:10:24.228-05:00

Meg-

I couldn't agree with you more! At our seasonal club in Boca Grande, Fl, we have had our fair share of problems with travelers. Our experiments show that regular game time extends an extra 15 minutes and the error rate is dramatic: 10-20% error rate with travelers and almost 0 errors with pickup slips. The noise level is 2-3 times worse. I don't see how weaker players would have the time or the experience to analyze whether real time results of a traveler are a result of bidding, play, or defense.

May I have permission to distribute your posting to our club members?

If declarer leads up to the ace, it's correct ...

2010-01-05T15:32:53.702-05:00

If declarer leads up to the ace, it's correct to drop the nine, for props or whatever.

If declarer CASHES the ace, and you drop the 9 and see pard's ten hit the table, you'll earn massive something elses from experts, opps, teammates, etc.

You should be playing Rainbow Gerber. It solves al...

2009-12-21T02:47:10.245-05:00

You should be playing Rainbow Gerber. It solves all these kinds of problems. Of course Meg is about four years underage for that convention.

2009-12-12T02:39:41.061-05:00

This comment has been removed by the author.

1. Do you attend Donna Compton's family reuni...

2009-12-06T12:00:14.421-05:00

1. Do you attend Donna Compton's family reunions, and if not, why not?

2. You all did a really good job when San Francisco sacked David Garrard on 4th-and-1 last week.

3. If your partner opens a weak 3C, how many cards are you and he both holding together?

4. Name a pretty good Replacements song.

5. Name a really good Loretta Lynn duet with Jack White.

Kanter recommends both minorwood, if agreement at ...

2009-12-02T01:09:59.675-05:00

Kanter recommends both minorwood, if agreement at 3 level or lower, and kickback, if agreement at 4 level. If either of you have bid the suit naturally, it is not available for kickback, so Kanter would bid 4S for kickback. It's very hard to learn since it comes up so seldom. Partnership bidding on BBO really helped me and partner. We used to miss it every time. Now haven't missed in 2 months, but it has only come up once.

If partner thought there was any chance we could t...

2009-12-01T15:08:21.640-05:00

If partner thought there was any chance we could take 12 tricks with spades as trump, he would have done *something* over my 4S call. He probably has no defense against 5D, and given that I didn't double it, he probably thinks it is making, so he really doesn't care whether 6C makes or not, as long as it doesn't go down too much. He bypassed 5S, so no way am I bidding 6S here. I'll be proud to put down two-card support! He probably has a 0-2-3-8 hand with solid trumps and is expecting me to ruff a diamond or two.

Plus, this is matchpoints instead of IMPs, so it&#...

2009-11-30T10:23:55.506-05:00

Plus, this is matchpoints instead of IMPs, so it's even less attractive to stretch for the thin chance of 6C making while 5S has no play. If I have a solid club suit and a red ace, even with a spade void, 5S could be a better call than 6C.

Could be something like void, Qxx, Axxx, AKQJTx an...

2009-11-30T10:20:04.311-05:00

Could be something like void, Qxx, Axxx, AKQJTx and hoping to get dummy's spades going (if any tops are missing) with one play through RHO. He'd still need a way back to dummy, though. I can understand the principle at IMPs of "bidding one more" as SJ Simon said, in case 5D somehow makes, but I'm not sure I'd venture it on such a hand. Clearly, there are some partners out there who would overrule clubs and throw it into a doomed spade contract, bidding again after they'd preempted.

Obviously you're playing with GIB. I can'...

2009-11-29T15:44:23.127-05:00

Obviously you're playing with GIB.

I can't think of a hand partner can have where he COULDN'T act over 4s, we're making 12 tricks with clubs as trumps but we're NOT making 12 tricks with spades as trumps.

If partner has Ax Axx xxxx AKxx and passed my 4S, ...

2009-11-29T13:02:31.422-05:00

If partner has Ax Axx xxxx AKxx and passed my 4S, he's a wimp of the worst kind. Why isn't he just popping us into 6S here, with that hand? Because he has a club hand....

Spades should be set as trump at this point. I th...

2009-11-29T12:27:47.786-05:00

Spades should be set as trump at this point. I think partner has length in diamonds and suddenly knows from the auction that I am short there, where he might not have wanted to take a risk before at the five level before. I'm optimistically picturing something like Ax Axx xxxx AKxx

Seems like pard has a hand that can live with 4S, ...

2009-11-29T11:24:47.297-05:00

Seems like pard has a hand that can live with 4S, is happy to play 5DX if you can double it, but that got better when you didn't. I don't really know what that hand looks like, but I'm fairly certain that bidding on will only get us into trouble. GLP.

What do I do? I gladly put down my dummy for 6C, a...

2009-11-29T09:57:40.113-05:00

What do I do? I gladly put down my dummy for 6C, and watch the play with interest. I don't have anything extra (or lacking) for my previous bid, which partner presumably saw.... I don't have anything surprising here that would impel me to take another bid, guessing at a strain.

I'll pass, assuming partner has something like...

2009-11-29T06:08:01.636-05:00

I'll pass, assuming partner has something like 1309 distribution.